Victorian road fatalities mostly 'drivers going about daily business'

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Victorian road fatalities mostly 'drivers going about daily business'

December 22, 2010 - 9:04AM

Most fatalities on Victoria's roads during the Christmas holiday period are not long-distance travellers but people going about their daily business, a coroners report has found.

Alcohol or speed were factors in more than half of all fatal crashes.

The report showed males are at greatest risk of dying on Victorian roads, with 70 per cent of deaths surveyed involving men.
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Young people aged between 15 and 24 represented more than one-third (35 per cent) of all deaths.

The Victorian Coroners Court survey analysed 170 deaths from 154 road crashes in the Christmas holiday periods from 1999/2000 to 2009/10.

It found 53 per cent, or 74 people, were involved in social activities including travelling to shopping centres, private residences or leaving licensed venues when fatal crashes occurred.

Fourteen per cent of deaths involved holiday-related travel while a further fourteen per cent, or 19 people, died while driving for work purposes.

Five deaths involved people travelling in a stolen vehicle or trying to evade police.

''The majority of road users were undertaking travel for everyday activities at the time of the crash rather than undertaking holiday-related travel,'' the report concluded.

Drunkenness was a factor in 28 per cent of deaths, speed in 25 per cent, fatigue in 19 per cent and drug use was detected in 14 per cent of fatalities.

The report showed while the annual number of roads deaths have declined the number of fatal crashes over the Christmas period has not reduced.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Ken Lay asked the Coroners Prevention Unit in January to undertake the review to explore why the Christmas road toll had not declined.

He said collisions during the holiday period contributed to an increasing proportion of the annual toll, from 2.5 per cent in 1999/2000 to five per cent in 2009/2010.

''We know that with holiday driving comes risk, people are driving long distances on often unfamiliar roads,'' Mr Lay said in a statement.

''But this review shows that a significant number of deaths over this period are in fact people undertaking day-to-day short distance trips to shopping centres and the like.

''This just shows that we all need to be vigilant on the road at all times and on all trips.''

AAP